Arbetet strävar efter ett landskapsperspektiv på erfarenhetsmässigt byggande. För en djupare förståelse för skogs- och byggnadskulturen har kulturarvet hyvlad utvändig panel undersökts. Med en kvalitativ metod har skogsbrukare, hantverkare och råvaruförädlare fått fördjupa förståelsen för ett hållbart nyttjande av skogsresurser genom ett hållbart byggande. Att bygga med trä räknas som bättre ur klimatsynpunkt än att bygga med betong. Detta arbete öppnar för slutsatsen att det kan vara mer hållbart att bygga med tradition och därmed kvalitetsvirke för landskapets uthållighet. Från ett landskapsperspektiv finns det enligt arbetet skäl att ifrågasätta hur miljömål och omställningsarbete tar hänsyn till traditionella kulturarv i skog och bebyggelse. Med rådande skogspolitik tillsammans med en statlig önskan om mer byggande i trä riskeras kulturhantverkare och skogsägare att uteslutas från det omfattande omställningsarbete vi står inför. En rationell hantering av landskap är lätt att räkna på i mål och styrmedelsarbete men riskerar att få oanade konsekvenser. En erfarenhetsbeprövad kvalitativ byggnadskultur som kan representeras i panelarkitekturen som detta arbete undersöker kan vara en av många vägar framåt för ett känt hållbart byggande och skapa efterfrågan på hållbar skogs- och virkeshantering. / This paper aims to start a discussion about the forest as a producer of quality building materials, where the cultural heritage of planed panels is the gateway to a deeper understanding of future building- and forestry culture in Sweden. Using a qualitative research method, carpenters, foresters and raw materials processors have been asked to give their views on the current situation and the future of sustainable use of forest resources through sustainable construction. The paper aims to give a landscape perspective on experiential construction. Building with wood is regarded as better from a climate point of view than building with concrete. The paper broadens the conclusion that it could even be more sustainable to build with tradition and thus quality timber.

Den domesticerade kaninen (Oryctolagus cuniculus) är idag ett vanligt sällskapsdjur världen över. Sällskapskaniner framhålls som det tredje mest populära sällskapsdjuret i Sverige, efter hund och katt. Trots detta behandlar endast en mycket liten andel av den övergripande forskningen inom ämnet hälsa- och välfärd just kanin. Den här studien har undersökt inverkan på sällskapskaninens välfärd av kaninägare med eller utan tidigare erfarenhet, sjukdomsbild, samt kaninägares preferenser - och om detta är faktorer som påverkar sällskapskaninens välfärd i Sverige. Studien genomfördes som en enkätundersökning, besvarad av 147 deltagare bosatta i Sverige. Enkäten publicerad i nätverkstjänsten Facebook och fanns tillgänglig under tidsperioden 23:e April - 7:e Maj, 2021. Mer än 50 % av deltagarna saknade erfarenhet och kunskap om kaniner innan de skaffade sin första kanin. Över 37 % höll sina kaniner ensamlevande, och mer än 21 % inhyste sina kaniner i bur. Behovet av veterinärvård utgjordes totalt av nästan hälften av kaninerna, och de kaniner som hölls inomhus eller frigående hade störst behov. Det fanns en skillnad i behovet av veterinärvård hos olika raskategorier, där kategorin små raser var högst representerad. Antalet kaniner som drabbades av olika typer av hälsorelaterade problem varierade, men sjukdomar kopplade till avelsrelaterad problematik utgjordes av nästan 1/3 av alla sjukdomar. Den vanligaste raskategorin att hålla var dvärgraser som hölls av nästan 60 % av alla deltagare, och den vanligaste orsaken till att välja just den raskategorin utgjordes av dess storlek. Den här studien visade att det finns faktorer i kaninägarens djurhållning som kan kopplas till sällskapskaninens välfärd i Sverige. Avgörande parametrar till detta har lyfts fram som kaninägarens erfarenhet och kunskap om kaniner, hållning och inhysning, samt val av raskategori. Nyckelord: Oryctolagus cuniculus, sällskapskanin, djurhållning, djurvälfärd, djuravel, djuretik / The domesticated rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is today a common pet worldwide. Pet rabbits are highlighted as the third most popular pet in Sweden, after dogs and cats. Despite this, only a very small proportion of the overall research in the subject of health and welfare deals with rabbits. This study has examined the impact on the companion rabbit's welfare of rabbit owners with or without previous experience, disease picture, and rabbit owners' preferences - and whether these are factors that affect the companion rabbit's welfare in Sweden. The study was conducted as a survey, answered by 147 participants living in Sweden. The survey was published in the network service Facebook and found available during the period 23 April - 7 May, 2021. More than 50% of the participants lacked experience and knowledge about rabbits before acquiring their first rabbit. Over 37% kept their rabbits alone, and more than 21% housed their rabbits in cages. The need for veterinary care accounted for a total of almost half of the rabbits, and the rabbits kept indoors or free-running were most in need. There was a difference in the need for veterinary care in different breed categories, where the category small breeds was most represented. The number of rabbits suffering from various types of health-related problems varied, but diseases linked to breeding-related problems accounted for almost 1/3 of all diseases. The most common breed category to keep was dwarf breeds held by almost 60% of all participants, and the most common reason for choosing that particular breed category was its size. This study showed that there are factors in the rabbit owner's animal husbandry that can be linked to the companion rabbit's welfare in Sweden. Decisive parameters for this have been highlighted as the rabbit owner's experience and knowledge of rabbits, posture and housing, as well as the choice of breed category. Keywords: Oryctolagus cuniculus, companion rabbit, animal husbandry, animal welfare, animal breeding, animal ethics

Vi lever i en urbaniserad värld och mer än hälften av jordens befolkning bor i städer globalt. God tillgång och tillgänglighet till bostadsnära grönområden har påvisats öka vår psykiska och fysiska hälsa. Världshälsoorganisationen (WHO) och Förenta nationerna (FN) har båda antagit program med mål att öka och säkra tillgängligheten till grönområden. I detta examensarbete jämförs fyra olika metoder för att analysera nuläget av tillgång och tillgänglighet i Falkenberg. Analysen genomförs i tre steg. I steg 1 definieras de grönområden som ingår i analysen. I steg 2 jämförs buffert- och nätverksanalys och i steg 3 beräknas tillgängligheten med 2 modeller av Two-Step Floating Catchment Area metoden (2SFCA). De polygonbaserade beräkningar som sker med buffert- och nätverksanalys beräknar tillgången ensidigt och beräknar den spatiala tillgängligheten eller befolkningstrycket på ett grönområde. Med 2SFCA-metoderna kombineras tillgången och efterfrågan i samma analys. Analysen finner att cirka 90 % av invånarna i Falkenberg har tillgång till bostadsnära grönområden inom 300 meter, dock är både tillgång och tillgänglighet lägre i de centrala delarna av tätorten. I studien jämförs traditionella metoder för att beräkna den spatiala tillgängligheten så väl som nyare metoder. 2SFCA-metoderna beräknas med och utan avståndsviktning. I vidare studier vore det intressant att implementera en kvalitetsaspekt där så väl ett grönområdes kvalitet som dess avstånd avgör attraktionskraft. / More than half of the world population live in cities or urban areas today. Urban green spaces (UGS) have been found to have an impact on the mental and physical well-being of urban citizens. The World health organisation (WHO) and United Nations (UN) both have set goals to increase and secure the accessibility to UGS, especially for children and young people. The aim of the study is to measure the spatial accessibility to UGS in Falkenberg, Sweden. The work consists of three steps. Step 1 is to define what constitutes a green space. Step 2 aims to compare buffer and network analysis to determine which method is best suited for the third step. Step 3 is to measure the accessibility by using the Two-step Floating Catchment Area Method (2SFCA) and thereafter integrate a Gaussian distance decay to the function and conduct the measures with the Enhanced two-step floating catchment area method (E2SFCA).  Step 2 finds that there is no major difference in access to green space between the buffer and network analysis as approximately 90 % of the population have access to green space within 300 meters from their home. In step 3 the implementation of the 2SFCA Method finds that 13 % has no access to UGS and 41 % has a low accessibility score. By introducing the distance decay function the population with low-mid to high-mid accessibility score increases as well as the overall accessibility. This is due to the nature of E2SFCA which does not treat the distance threshold dichotomous. Further studies could benefit from implementing a probability function to the E2SFCA method to incorporate the attraction to a UGS by using the qualitative values in combination with the distance.

Syftet med denna kvalitativa studie är att genom fokusgruppintervjuer undersöka vad elever i årskurserna 5-6 kan och  resonerar om begreppen källsortering, nedskräpning och miljöförstöring Studien tar upp hur hållbar utveckling är upplagt i läroplanens inledande delar och kursplaner, hur de tre dimensionerna av hållbarhet definieras samt tidigare forskning inom ämnet. I det resultat som visualiseras framkom det hur 20 elever på en Grön Flaggskola och en icke Grön Flaggskola ser på nedskräpning och källsortering. Undersökningens resultat indikerar att eleverna är väl insatta i dagens miljöproblem och de vet hur de ska motverka dessa. Anmärkningsvärt visade eleverna på Grön Flaggskolan inte mer kunskap om till exempel hållbarhet. Dock påvisas det att majoriteten av eleverna på båda skolorna innehar en nonchalant inställning till problemen, lägger dessa på andra individer och skjuter problemen framför sig. I studien framförs slutligen en diskussion om införandet av ett nytt ämne i läroplanen, vem som bär ansvaret och hur lärarna kan engagera sina elever att arbeta för en bättre planet. / The purpose of this qualitative study is, through focus group interviews investigate what pupils in grades 5-6 can and reason about waste sorting, littering and pollutions. The study examines how sustainable development is presented in the curriculum's introductory parts and curricula, how the three dimensions of sustainability are defined and previous research within the subject. The result that emerged visualizes how 20 pupils at an Eco-School and a non-Eco-school look at littering and sorting waste. The results of the survey indicate that the pupils are well acquainted with today's environmental problems, and they know how to counteract with these. The pupils on the Eco School did remarkably not show more knowledge about for example sustainability. However, it is demonstrated that the majority of the pupils at both schools hold a nonchalant approach to the problems, place these on other individuals and postpone the problems before them. Finally, the study discusses the introduction of a new topic in the curriculum, who carries the responsibility and how the teachers can engage their students to work for a better planet.

Since 1750, human emissions of greenhouse gases have created a temperature increase, affecting the whole world. Diatoms, single-celled microscopic algae that lives in waters all over the world, have different environmental preferences such as the water depth at which the thrive, salinity, nutrients, pH-values and more. Diatoms also responds quickly to changing circumstances, which makes the suitable as environmental indicators. The purpose of the study is to investigate how the abundance and composition of diatoms has changed during the last 200 years in lake Ensjön, located just south of Norrköping, and to relate those changes both to climate change and known events and environmental factors in the area.  The survey is conducted by subsampling sediment cores from which each diatom sample was prepared in accordance with the scheme of Battarbee (1984). The diatoms in the samples were counted under a microscope and the results were analyzed and related to the Cyclotella-Aulacoseira-Fragilaria-theory (CAF) and documented historical events in the local environment. The result of the analysis shows that the composition and abundance of diatoms has changed during the last 200 years, and that this change is due to both climate change (temperature and precipitation increase) and the land-use history of Ensjön. The cahnges in composition of Aulacoseira spp. and Cyclotella spp., where Aulacoseira spp. is expected to decrease, and Cyclotella spp. is expected to increase with a rising temperature, match the CAF-theory for the most part. The change in composition also coincides with several documented environmental factors in the area, especially the change in use of fertilizers and herbicides in agriculture. / Människans utsläpp av växthusgaser har sedan år 1750 skapat en temperaturökning som går allt snabbare, och påverkar hela världen. Kiselalger, encelliga mikroskopiska alger som lever i vatten över hela världen, har olika miljöpreferenser såsom bland annat på vilket vattendjup de trivs, optimal halt av salt, näringsvärden, pH-värden, samt reagerar snabbt på förändrade omständigheter, vilket gör dem lämpliga som miljöindikatorer. Syftet med studien är att studera förändringar i kiselalgernas sammansättning under de senaste 200 åren i den lilla sjön Ensjön belägen något söder om Norrköping och att relatera dessa förändringar till dokumenterade händelser och miljöfaktorer i sjöns avrinningsområde samt till de pågående klimatförändringarna.  Undersökningen är utförd genom provtagning av sedimentkärnor från vilka prover preparerades enligt Battarbees (1984) flödesschema. Proverna av kiselalger räknades under mikroskop och sammansättningen analyserades utifrån teorin Cyclotella-Aulacoseira-Fragilaria (CAF) och kända historiska händelser i närmiljön. Analysresultatet visade att kiselalgssammansättningen har förändrats under de senaste 200 åren, och att denna förändring sannolikt kan kopplas både till klimatförändringar (en ökad temperatur) och Ensjöns markanvändningshistoria. Förändringen hos Aulacoseira spp. och Cyclotella spp. följer till stor del CAF-teorin om att det första släktet skulle minska och det andra skulle öka vid en temperaturökning. Vid flera tillfällen sammanfaller förändringar i kiselalgssammansättningen med kända miljöfaktorer i närmiljön, främst i samband med utvecklingen i användningen av mineralgödsel och växtskyddsmedel.

Over the past decades, evidence show that the anthropogenetic greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) are the main drivers behind global warming and are becoming stronger. Globally, hydropower is among the main sources of renewable energy and the popular notion that hydropower electricity is carbon neutral has been under debate as evidence from measurements in different regions of the globe show significant and highly variable carbon emissions from hydropower reservoirs. But these global estimates are still highly uncertain since they are restricted to a few locations in the south of Europe, North America, and South America, and lack both the temporal and spatial variability in addition to some of the flux pathways (often downstream emission and degassing). This study assesses the CH4 and CO₂ emissions from reservoirs associated to three small hydropower stations in the south of Sweden and aims to understand potential spatial and temporal variability in the temperate region. The study performed flux measurements of CH4 and CO₂, an analysis of CH4 and DIC concentration in the water, and a depth profile of temperature, DO, CH4 and DIC at the hydropower station’s reservoirs. In summation this study finds significant CH4 and DIC concentrations, as well as CH4 and CO₂emissions from the studied reservoirs. The findings of this study underline the notion that hydropower might be a `blind spot` in the Swedish GHG budget report, and if so, the carbon emissions from hydropower electricity need to be re-evaluated.

This biomedical engineering thesis explores the opportunities and challenges of 2D+t contrast echocardiography for left ventricle functional analysis, both clinically and within a computer vision atlas-based deformable template model framework. A database was created for the experiments in this thesis, with 21 studies of contrast Dobutamine Stress Echo, in all 4 principal planes. The database includes clinical variables, human expert hand-traced myocardial contours and visual scoring. First the problem is studied from a clinical perspective. Quantification of endocardial global and local function using standard measures shows expected values and agreement with human expert visual scoring, but the results are less reliable for myocardial thickening. Next, the problem of segmenting the endocardium with a computer is posed in a standard landmark and atlas-based deformable template model framework. The underlying assumption is that these models can emulate human experts in terms of integrating previous knowledge about the anatomy and physiology with three sources of information from the image: texture, geometry and kinetics. Probabilistic atlases of contrast echocardiography are computed, while noting from histograms at selected anatomical locations that modelling texture with just mean intensity values may be too naive. Intensity analysis together with the clinical results above suggest that lack of external boundary definition may preclude this imaging technique for appropriate measuring of myocardial thickening, while endocardial boundary definition is appropriate for evaluation of wall motion. Geometry is presented in a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) context, highlighting issues about Gaussianity, the correlation and covariance matrices with respect to physiology, and analysing different measures of dimensionality. A popular extension of deformable models ---Active Appearance Models (AAMs)--- is then studied in depth. Contrary to common wisdom, it is contended that using a PCA texture space instead of a fixed atlas is detrimental to segmentation, and that PCA models are not convenient for texture modelling. To integrate kinetics, a novel spatio-temporal model of cardiac contours is proposed. The new explicit model does not require frame interpolation, and it is compared to previous implicit models in terms of approximation error when the shape vector changes from frame to frame or remains constant throughout the cardiac cycle. Finally, the 2D+t atlas-based deformable model segmentation problem is formulated and solved with a gradient descent approach. Experiments using the similarity transformation suggest that segmentation of the whole cardiac volume outperforms segmentation of individual frames. A relatively new approach ---the inverse compositional algorithm--- is shown to decrease running times of the classic Lucas-Kanade algorithm by a factor of 20 to 25, to values that are within real-time processing reach.

The digital payment industry has become one of the fastest evolving markets in the world, but in the wake of its rapid advancement, an ever increasing gap between academic theory and the actual reality of this market widens - and especially so when it comes to entry theory. It is widely acknowledged that the world is moving towards an ever more homogeneous economy, but despite the fact that payment preferences differ greatly from country to country - research on this subject continues to revolve mainly around localized efforts. But as historical inequalities between poor and rich societies continue to dissipate - learning from nations at the forefront of technological advancement increases the likelihood that the developed strategy becomes applicable to an increased number of countries. By selecting a nation most conducive to technological growth, the purpose of this report is to map the present dynamics in its digital payment industry using both recent and traditional market entry theory. However, studies geared towards globalized strategy formulation cannot be assumed as having guaranteed access to internal company-data at all times. So in order to facilitate such studies, the level of dependency on primary data required for conducting such research needs to be understood first, which is why the work in this report is constrained strictly to data of secondary nature. This, not only to further map the characteristics of this market, but also to see how open the market is to public inspection. Ultimately, the academic contribution becomes that of providing a road-map towards adapting currently available market entry theory to suit the rapidly evolving conditions of the digital payment industry from a global perspective and, when failing to do so, the aim is to also explore avenues for further research towards this end goal.

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a common inflammatory arthritis of the spine and other affected joints, which is highly heritable, being strongly influenced by the HLA-B27 status, as well as hundreds of mostly unknown genetic variants of smaller effect. The aim of my research was to confirm some of the previously observed genetic associations and to identify new associations, many of which are in biological pathways relevant to AS pathogenesis, most notably the IL-23/T_H17 axis (IL23R) and antigen presentation (ERAP1 and ERAP2). Studies presented in this thesis include replication and refinement of several potential associations initially identified by earlier GWAS (WTCCC-TASC, 2007 and TASC, 2010). I conducted an extended study of IL23R association with AS and undertook a meta-analysis, confirming the association between AS and IL23R (non-synonymous SNP rs11209026, p=1.5 x 10-9, OR=0.61). An extensive re-sequencing and fine mapping project, including a meta-analysis, to replicate and refine the association of TNFRSF1A with AS was also undertaken; a novel variant in intron 6 was identified and a weak association with a low frequency variant, rs4149584 (p=0.01, OR=1.58), was detected. Somewhat stronger associations were seen with rs4149577 (p=0.002, OR=0.91) and rs4149578 (p=0.015, OR=1.14) in the meta-analysis. Associations at several additional loci had been identified by a more recent GWAS (WTCCC2-TASC, 2011). I used in silico techniques, including imputation using a denser panel of variants from the 1000 Genomes Project, conditional analysis and rare/low frequency variant analysis, to refine these associations. Imputation analysis (1782 cases/5167 controls) revealed novel associations with ERAP2 (rs4869313, p=7.3 x 10-8, OR=0.79) and several additional candidate loci including IL6R, UBE2L3 and 2p16.3. Ten SNPs were then directly typed in an independent sample (1804 cases/1848 controls) to replicate selected associations and to determine the imputation accuracy. I established that imputation using the 1000 Genomes Project pilot data was largely reliable, specifically for common variants (genotype concordence~97%). However, more accurate imputation of low frequency variants may require larger reference populations, like the most recent 1000 Genomes reference panels. The results of my research provide a better understanding of the complex genetics of AS, and help identify future targets for genetic and functional studies.